creating the multifarious ornamented living creatures and jewels out of simple sand and water, and all their sustenance and other needs being supplied in general and complete fashion; and through their administration, and through none of the inevitable innumerable corpses of their dead fellows being found on the surface of the seas; they testify indirectly to their number to Your existence and its necessity.

Also, just as they point clearly to the splendid sovereignty of Your dominicality and to the magnificence of Your power, which encompasses all things; so do they indicate the limitless breadth of Your mercy and rule, which govern all things from the huge yet orderly stars beyond the skies to the tiny fishes at the bottom of the sea, which are nurtured in regular fashion. They point too to Your knowledge and wisdom, which as demonstrated by the order, benefits, instances of wisdom, and the balance and equilibrium of all things, encompass and comprehend them. There being such reservoirs of mercy for the travellers in this guest-house of the world and their being utilized for man’s journeying, and for his ship, and his benefit shows that the One Who bestows such a profusion of gifts out of the seas on his guests of one night in a wayside inn, must surely have eternal seas of mercy at the seat of His everlasting rule, and those here are merely their small and transitory samples.

Thus, the truly wondrous situation of the seas around the earth and the exceedingly orderly administration and nurturing of their creatures demonstrate self-evidently that it is only through Your power, will, and administration that they are subjugated to Your command in Your dominions; and through the tongues of their beings they sanctify their Creator, declaring: “God is Most Great!”

O All-Powerful One of Glory, Who makes the mountains masts and holds of treasure for the ship of the earth!

Through the instruction of Your Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) and the teaching of the Wise Qur’an, I have understood that just as the seas with their strange creatures recognize You and make You known, so do the mountains through the wise services they perform. For they ensure that the earth is released from the effects of earthquakes and internal upheavals; save it from being overrun by the seas; purify the air of poisonous gases; are tanks for the saving and storage of water; and treasuries for the